Device for applying treating material to leather



DEVICE FOR APPLYING TREATING MATERIAL T0 LEATHER Filed Jan. 1l, 1939 ToFoo? TREAaLs Patented June 4, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DEVICEFOR APPLYING TREATING MATERIAL TO LEATHER Application January 11, `1939,Serial No. 250,378

3 Claims.

This invention relates to certainnew and useful improvements in amachine adapted, more particularly, for use in applying a liquidreenforcing agent to the unfinished side of pieces of leather, such asVamps, linings, or the like, in

order to stiiTen the leather and expedite subsequent operations thereon,especially those involving cutting or die-stamping the leather inproducing ornamental designs therein of an open-work nature. The machineis equally Well adapted, however, for applying paste, or other liquidsubstances, to leather.

The application of a re-enforcing agent to leather vamps, or the like,to stiften the same is commonly practiced in shoe factories, suchstiening of the leather not only rendering the pieces easier to handleand operate on, but en` abling the leather to be cut, or diedout,without leaving ragged edges around the cuts. The stiifening liquidgenerally employed is quite thin, and the prevailing practice is toapply this liquid to the leather manually by means of a brush, as it hasheretofore been considered impossible, or at least impracticable, toapply it successfully in any other fashion. In the larger factories, arelatively large number of operators, usually females, are employed fordoing this work alone.

One reason. that has made the application of re-enforcing liquid to theleather by hand-uni- 30'- versal, so far as our knowledge extends, isthe fact that the liquid agent employed if not frequently agitated,quickly hardens, assuming the nature of glass. Where the use of machineshas been attempted for this purpose, it was` found that material left inthe container of the machine, or on parts for applying it, for even arelatively short length of time, would harden to such an extent that themachine would have to be taken apart and the hardened material re-y comethe obstacles incident to the `use of a ma chine for applying astiiiening agent to pieces of leather, by providing a machine for thispur'- pose of exceedingly simple construction, which may be readilydis-assembled and reassembled whenever a cleaning operation isnecessary.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a machine of thisnature which in operation will cause a continuous agitation of the istiffening agent in the container of the machine, and which will permitof the utilization of practically the entire capacity of vthe containerfor holding the stiffening liquid.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a machine which maybeeasily and readily operated, even Aby an inexperienced person, andwhich will practically eliminate danger of accident toI the hands of theoperator from being caught between rollers used in applying the liquidto the leather.

Other objects relate to details of construction of the machine, whichmay be better understood from the detail description of the invention tofollow.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which-Figure 1 is an end elevation partly broken away, facing the operator;

Figure 2 is a vertical section on the line Z-Z of Figure `1;

Figure 3 is a plan View;

Figure 4 is a rear end elevation, broken away to show a leaf springsupport for the pick up roll; f

Figure 5 is an enlarged vVertical section on the line 5 5V of Figure 3;

Figure 6y is an enlarged vertical section on the line 6 6 of Figure 3;

Figure 7 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on the line 'le-'l ofFigure 4; and

Figure 8 is a plan View of a vamp showing, by stippling, there-eniorcing liquid applied to one side thereof.

Referring now to the drawing, the numeral l indicates the top of atable, or other support, on which our machine is mounted. Said machinecomprises a container 2, having side walls 3, end walls 4, and a bottom5, and being open at the top. Extending along the sides of themachine atthe bottom are ilanges 6, having apertures to receive screws l, kbymeans of which the machine is secured on the top of the table.

The numeral 8 indicates a pick-up roll, which is in the form of a hollowmetal cylinder having an integral cross-bar, or spoke, 9 near each endproviding hubs Ill, by means/of which the cylinder is mounted on a shaftil, projecting at its ends beyond the outer ends of the spokes 9. Castintegral with the inner side of each end wall 4 are two parallel pairsof retaining guide lugs I2, between each pair of which is slidablymounted a pila-te I3, each plate resting at its lower end o-n the freeend of a leaf spring I4, the other end portion of which is bent toextend between holding pins I5 provided on the inner side of each endwall. Each of the plates I3 is provided with an aperture for receivingthe corresponding projecting end of the shaft Il, as clearly shown inFigure 2, so that the pick-up roll is yieldably supported in thecontainer 2, and is normally pressed upward against the under side of adistributing roll I6 by the leaf spring I4.

The distributing roll I6 is loosely mounted on a drive shaft I1 which ismounted in the bearings I8 provided in the end walls 4. One end of thisdrive shaft is screw threaded and has a nut I9 applied thereto which,when screwed home, bears against the outer side of the bearing |8 andholds the shaft in position in its bearings. On the opposite end ofshaft I1 is a drive pulley 25, and adjacent this pulley is secured agear 2|. At a point on the shaft within the container 2 there isremovably mounted in the shaft a stud 23, which engages in a slot 24provided in the end of the distributing roll I6. The shaft |1 iscontinuously rotated by the driven pulley 20 and the engagement of stud23 in the slot 24 causes the distributing roll I6 to be rotated with it.The pulley 2|) is driven in the usual manner b-y a belt (not shown) fromany suitable source of power.

Referring to Figures 2 and 7, the end wall 4 of the container adjacentthe gear 2| has secured thereon by means of screws 25 two parallel guidemembers 26, which form a guide way for a slidebar 21, which is providedintermediate its ends with a slot 28 through which the shaft I1 extends.In the upper end of slide bar 21 there is mounted a bearing 29 forreceiving the outer end of a stub shaft 30, on which outer end beyondthe slide-bar is mounted a pinion 3|, which is adapted to be broughtinto and out of mesh with the driving gear 2|. Secured on the stub shaft30, as by being press-fitted thereon, is a presser roll 32, which isadapted to be raised or lowered with respect to the distributing rollI6, by means now to be described.

Screw threaded into the lower end of slide-bar 21 is a rod 33, whichpasses downward through an opening 34 in the top and has an adjustingnut 35 applied to an intermediate screw threaded portion 36, which nutis adapted to bear against the under side of the top to limit the upwardmovement of the slide-bar 21 and roll 32, which is caused by thepressure of a coil spring 31 surrounding the rod 33 and interposedbetween the lower end of slide bar 21 and the top of table I. Secured tothe lower end of the rod 3 3 is a pull rod 38, which at its lower end isconnected to a conventional foot treadle (not shown).

When the treadle is depressed the slide bar 21 carrying pinion 3| andpresser roll 32 is moved downward; and when pressure on the treadle isreleased, the coil spring 31 raises these parts to the position shown bydotted lines in Figure 2.

The container 2 is of a size to contain -about a gallon of there-enforcing fluid, the liquid level of which, when the container islled, being somewhat below the upper edge of the pick-up roll 8, asshown in Figure l.

A gallon of the re-enforcing uid is ordinarily suiiicient for a dayswork. If more of the uid is required, however, the additional amount maybe poured into the container by lifting a cover plate 39, extending onone side of the distributing roll I6, which is normally held in positionon the container by means of fixed, or integral, studs 40 projectingbelow its underside and being received into holes 4| provided in theupper edge of one of the sidewalls 3, as indicated in Figure 6.

A second cover plate 42 is located at the opposite side of roll I6, andis provided at its opposite ends and near its outer side with two slots43, Figure 5, through each of which slots extends a screw 44 which issecured in the upper end of the other side wall 3. This cover plate 42may thus be adjusted toward or from the upper side of the distributingroll I6, in order to regulate the amount of liquid which will be carriedup for application to the leather by said roll.

The botto-m of the container is provided with an aperture which isnormally closed by a screw plug 45, which is located within an opening46 provided in the top I. By removing plug 45, the container 2 may bedrained when operation of the machine is to be suspended for aconsiderable length of time, `as at the end of a days work.

By making the pick-up roll 8 hollow and open at its ends, the liquid inthe container will also occupy the greater portion of the interior ofthe roll, enabling practically the full capacity of the container to beemployed for the liquid. Moreover, as the pick-up roll rotates, theliquid on the inside of the roll, as well as that displaced by theexterior of the roll, will be thoroughly agitated and thus kept fromhardening so long as the machine is in operation.

The pick-up roll 8 being held in constant contact throughout its lengthwith the under side of the positively-driven distributing roller IG bymeans of the leaf springs I4, will be rotated by such frictional contactand will operate to constantly supply the liquid re-enforcing agent tothe surface of said distributing roll.

Normally, the presser roll 32 is in the elevated position indicated bythe dotted lines in Figure 2. If a vamp, such as shown by Figure 8, andindicated by the numeral 41, is to be treated, the operator places saidvamp with its unnished side downward on the top I and moves it intoengagement with the top of distributing roll I6 and at the same timepresses the foot treadle downward, thereby bringing the pinion 3| intomesh with gear 2| and the presser roll 32 into engagement with theupper, or nished -side of the vamp. The vamp then rapidly passes betweenthe two rolls I6 and 32 and its under side is pressed by roll 32 intofirm engagement with the upper side of the ldistributing roll I5, sothat the reenforcing liquid is evenly distributed over the under, orunnished side, of the vamp as indicated by the stippled portion 48 ofFigure 8. The passage of the vamp 41 between the rollers is indicated bythe dotted lines in Figure 1. Just as the rear portion of the vamp isabout to pass between the rollers, the operator releases pressure on thefoot treadle, and spring 31 immediately causes the lroller 32 to beraised, thus preventing the roll 32 from coming in contact with roll I6and having its surface covered with the liquid.

Should fingers of the operator be caught between the rolls I6 and 32,the upward pressure of the foot treadle on the foot of the operatoroccasioned thereby will immediately cause her to release pressure on thefoot treadle and allow the roll 32 to be raised. Ordinarily, however,the operator would promptly release pressure on the foot treadle themoment her iingersl v r entirely out of the machine.

became engaged. As the pressure exerted by the upper roll IG is onlythat produced by the operator, there is practically no danger whateverof sufficient pressure being exerted to injure the ngers, as theoperator would instinctively release pressure of the foot treadle themoment her fingers came in contact with the rolls.

l/Vhen it becomes necessary to disassemble the machine for the purposeof cleaning it, or for any other purpose, the nut I9 is first removed,the shaft Il pulled out far enough to carry the stud 23 out of the slot24, when the stu-d is pulled out of the shaft by means of pliers and theshaft with its gear 2| and pulley 23 pulled This of course enables rolli6, to be removed. The pull rod 38 is then lifted out of engagement withthe rod 33, and the latter unscrewed from engagement with the slide bar21, which permits the latter with its pinion 3l and roller 32 to belifted off of the machine. The pick-up roll 8 may now be removed bysimply lifting it out of the machine, the plates I3 sliding out ofengagement with the lugs I2. These operations require only a fewminutes, and the machine may be reassembled in the same short length oftime.

We claim:

1. In a machine of the class described, a container, a leaf spring andguide members provided on the inner side of each end wall of saidcontainer, an apertured plate slidably mounted in each set of saidgui-de members and supported on one of said leaf springs, a pick-up rollhaving a shaft mounted in the apertures of said plates, a distributingroll mounted in said container having driving means and a driving gear,and frictionally engaging the upper side of said pick-up roll againstthe resistance of said leaf springs, a presser roll located above saiddistributing roll and having a pinion, means for manually lowering saidpresser roll to bring its pinion into engagement with the gear of thedistributing roll, and automatic means for raising said presser rollwhen released from manual control.

2. In a machine of the class described, a container, guide membersprovided on the inner side of each end wall of said container, aplurality of spaced pins xedly mounted on and projecting inward fromeach of said end walls, a leaf spring threaded between said pins on eachend wall and having a free end extending beneath said guide members, anapertured plate slidably mounted in each set of guide members andsupported on the free end of the leai spring beneath said members, apick-up roll having a shaft mounted at its ends in the apertures of saidplates, a distributing roll mounted in said container having drivingmeans and a driving gear, and frictionally engaging the upper side ofsaid pick-up roll against the resistance of said leaf springs, a presserroll located above said distributing roll and having a pinion, means formanually lowering said presser roll to bring its pinion into engagementwith the gear of the distributing roll, and automatic means for raisingsaid presser roll when released from manual control.

3. In a machine of the class described, in combine-tion with a containerhaving a pick-up roll removably mounted therein, a shaft slidablymounted in the walls of the container and having a securing nut appliedto one end thereof, a distributing roll loosely mounted on said shaftand having at one end a slot, a removable pin carried by sai-d shaft andengaging in said slot, a slide-bar mounted on one end of said containerand having a slot receiving said shaft, a stub shaft mounted at one endin a bearing on said slide bar and having a presser roll secured thereonlocated above sai-d distributing roll, a pulley and a gear on the shaftof the distributing roll, a pinion on the shaft of said presser roll, aspring normally holding said slide-bar and its shaft, pinion and presserroll in a raised position, a rod removably secured in the lower end ofsaid slide-bar, means for lowering said sli-de bar at the will of theoperator detachably connected to said rod, and a stop on said rod forlimiting the upward movement of said slide-bar,

the combination being such that by unscrewing the nut from said shaft,removing the pin therefrom'and removing said rod from the slide-bar,

the entire machine may be disassembled.

PETER BOLHOFNER. THEODORE KOCH.

